AL-MUKALLA, Yemen: The UN Yemen envoy, Hans Grundberg, has called upon the Houthi militia to release abducted UN workers, while another UN official denied the Houthis’ accusations against UN agencies of destroying education in Yemen.
Grundberg briefed the UN Security Council on Thursday, expressing his concerns about the Houthi attack on the oil-laden ship Sounion, which is burning in the Red Sea and poses a threat to the environment, and said that his current efforts are focused on achieving a “sustainable and just” solution to the Yemen war.
“It has now been over 100 days since Ansar Allah commenced a wave of detentions, targeting Yemenis engaged in critical efforts related to humanitarian assistance, development, human rights, peacebuilding, and education,” he said, using the formal name of the Houthis.
“A development of particular concern is Ansar Allah’s recent targeting of the Greek-flagged oil tanker M.V. Sounion, which forced the abandonment of the ship, and raises the imminent threat of a catastrophic oil spill and environmental disaster of unprecedented scale,” he added.
The call came a day after the UN strongly denied accusations by the Houthis that its agencies in Yemen “colluded” with the militia’s opponents and funded programs aimed at destroying Yemen’s education system.
Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, on Wednesday called the Houthis’ accusations against UN agencies “baseless,” saying that the militia endangers the safety of UN workers in Yemen and jeopardizes their ability to help Yemen.
“Those detained must be treated with full respect for their human rights and be able to contact their families and legal representatives.”
He said that the Houthis accused the UN Children’s Fund, or UNICEF, the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, and other humanitarian partners of contributing to the destruction of education in Yemen.
The Houthis have launched a crackdown on Yemeni workers with UN agencies, international humanitarian and human rights organizations, and foreign missions in Yemen, as well as education professors at Sanaa University and authors of Yemen’s curriculum.
During the campaign, the Houthis abducted at least 70 Yemenis and forcibly disappeared them, denying family members’ requests to see or contact them.
Dujarric said that the Houthis “arbitrarily” abducted 13 UN workers, in addition to four other UN workers abducted by the Houthis in 2021 and 2023, and that UN educational agencies in Yemen, in collaboration with national partners, have provided regular incentives to more than 40,000 teachers, rebuilt more than 770 schools, distributed school bags and other educational materials to over a million children, distributed 600,000 meals to students and trained more than 9,000 teachers.
“With over 4.5 million children out of school in Yemen, UNICEF calls on the Sanaa authorities to lead a constructive and collaborative approach, working with all partners to address the pressing needs of all children,” Dujarric said.
Earlier this month, Houthi media broadcast a video of an abducted Sanaa University professor and co-author of Yemen primary school education confessing to participating in programs funded by UNICEF, UNESCO, the US, the EU and other agencies to instill “non-Islamic” and “Western” ideologies into Yemen education to disseminate anti-jihad propaganda, impose gender equality, and recruit US agents.
Similarly, the Houthis abducted Saher Al-Khawlani, a social media activist, in Sanaa on Wednesday, reportedly for criticizing the Houthis on social media, Ahmed Al-Nabahani, a Sanaa-based activist, told Arab News, giving no information on how she was abducted.
Al-Khawlani, who has more than 11,000 followers on social media platform X, has harshly criticized the Houthis for failing to pay public employees, imposing fees on primary schools, failing to combat the militia’s leaders’ corruption, and the spread of racism. On Monday, she posted an interview with an “outstanding” student whose result was blocked by the Houthis for failing to pay a monthly fee of 1,000 Yemen riyals ($3.99).
She criticized the Houthis for not allowing the student, whose family could not afford shoes for her, to continue her studies.
“Maram is an outstanding student; her family is extremely poor and does not have enough food for the day. The family members walk down the street without shoes. Free education is a right for everyone, you oppressors,” she said, referring to the student.
Meanwhile, the US Central Command said on Thursday morning that its forces had destroyed one Houthi missile system in an area of Yemen controlled by the Houthis, the latest in a series of military operations against Houthi targets aimed at pressuring them to stop attacking ships.
